Sundiver? Down!

Written: 1999.07.06

I don't know David Brin. We have never corresponded, although I
did send him a short E-mail just to see whether he would respond. He
didn't. So, this is merely a criticism of his article on the
Internet, rather than what I might legitimately call "hate
mail". It is on my "hate mail" page simply because I
don't know where else I would put something like this, and I just
felt like venting.

Who is he? He is the science fiction writer who authored "The
Postman", which was made into a spectacularly unsuccessful Kevin
Costner movie. The article he wrote was an extremely bizarre piece of
work entitled "Star Wars despots vs Star Trek populists",
in which he essentially argued that the Jedi Knights of the Star Wars
universe embody an anti-democracy, elitist viewpoint in which
genetically superior supermen are destined to rule the universe. He
contrasted this with Star Trek by gushing over Trek's populist,
pro-democracy messages in which innate, genetically inherited
strengths and weaknesses are irrelevant, and he made it quite obvious
that he has some sort of personal axe to grind wth George Lucas. The
text of his message can be found here.
Have a look- do you think he makes some good points? Frankly, if you
do, then you must not know much about Star Wars. Let us examine some
of his more contentious claims.

One of his opening claims is that Star Wars contains the following
laundry list of messages:

Elites have
an inherent right to arbitrary rule; common citizens needn't be
consulted. They may only choose which elite to follow.

"Good"
elites should act on their subjective whims, without evidence,
argument or accountability.

Any amount
of sin can be forgiven if you are important enough.

True leaders
are born. It's genetic. The right to rule is inherited.

Justified human emotions can turn a
good person evil.

When I looked at this, I was somewhat offended that someone would
actually be trying to paint Star Wars as some sort of threat to
democracy (can he really be serious? Is he descended from McCarthy?),
and I was simultaneously amused that an award-winning science fiction
author might actually be incapable of understanding a storyline that
was designed so that eight year old children could grasp it.

You see, he seems to believe that the Jedi Knights are bad because
they rule the Star Wars galaxy, they are elites, and they are not
elected to their position. It is a birthright, so they hark back to
the bad old days of feudalism, monarchies, empires, etc. But he
forgot one little detail: Jedi Knights do
not rule the Star Wars galaxy! He wrote this
nonsense after watching TPM- did he actually fail to notice
that the government of the Old Republic was a democratic body,
complete with a senate, and a democratically elected Chancellor? Did
he fail to notice that the Jedi Knights are the instruments of
government policy rather than the authors of that policy? Did he have
popcorn stuck in his ears when Qui-Gon solemnly warned Anakin that
"it will be a hard life"? Jedi Knights serve the
people, rather than ruling them. Millions of people worldwide have
seen the Star Wars films, and easily grasped this fact, but David
Brin is apparently not one of them. Perhaps he was distracted by his
efforts to write another bomb for Kevin Costner.

What else does he have to say? Read on- as he continues to write,
it becomes clear that he is either deliberately misrepresenting the
Star Wars universe to advance his agenda, or his intelligence is
actually so low that he cannot pick up obvious plot points like
"Empire is bad" or "Supreme Chancellor is not a Jedi".
He goes on to criticize mythologies in general, since they usually
revolve around kings and demigods.

Alas, Campbell only highlighted positive
traits, completely ignoring a much darker side -- such as how easily
this standard fable-template was co-opted by kings, priests and
tyrants, extolling the all-importance of elites who tower over common
women and men. Or the implication that we must always adhere to
variations on a single story, a single theme, repeating the same
prescribed plot outline over and over again. Those who praise Joseph
Campbell seem to perceive this uniformity as cause for rejoicing --
but it isn't. Playing a large part in the tragic miring of our
spirit, demigod myths helped reinforce sameness and changelessness or
millennia, transfixing people in nearly every culture, from Gilgamesh
all the way to comic book super heroes.

Interesting. He seems to believe that Joseph Campbell (who
collaborated with George Lucas to create the mythical universe of
Star Wars) is propagating an unadulterated duplicate of the ancient
demigod myths of primitive cultures. But he fails to notice that
Lucas and Campbell updated and revised those myths substantially: the
Jedi Knights of the Star Wars universe see themselves as servants
of mankind, not rulers. Many of the critical plot
developments of the Star Wars movies were driven by ordinary humans.
It seems that Brin was so wrapped up in the similarities to timeless
myths that he simply assumed that Star Wars was a precise
duplicate of those myths, rather than being loosely based on
them. Maybe he should try actually watching the Star Wars
films.

It is essential to understand the radical
departure taken by genuine science fiction, which comes from a
diametrically opposite literary tradition -- a new kind of
storytelling that often rebels against those very same archetypes
Campbell venerated. An upstart belief in progress, egalitarianism,
positive-sum games -- and the slim but real possibility of decent
human institutions.

He goes on to make an even more bizarre claim: that "genuine"
science fiction is distinguished from other forms of fiction by
virtue of its adherence to populist messages. I don't know of anyone
else who believes that science fiction is distinguished from other
forms of fiction exclusively by the presence of populist messages,
but I suppose this claim shouldn't be surprising, considering the
source. "The Postman" contains no futuristic premises, no
futuristic technology, no futuristic settings, or futuristic
cultures. It is merely another post-apocalyptic American jingoism
story but David Brin calls himself a science fiction writer, so why
not redefine science fiction to include "The Postman" and
exclude "Star Wars"? That sort of carefully redrawn
delineation must make Brin feel really good- sort of like an elitist
:)

By contrast, the oppressed "rebels"
in "Star Wars" have no recourse in law or markets or
science or democracy. They can only choose sides in a civil war
between two wings of the same genetically superior royal family. They
may not meddle or criticize. As Homeric spear-carriers, it's not
their job.

More of his ignorant mis-reading of the Star Wars universe.
Emperor Palpatine destroyed a democratic government system (the Old
Republic) in favour of his dictatorship. Obviously, the rebels would
have put a democratically elected government (probably called "The
New Republic", or "The Republic") back in place after
defeating him (and in fact, if you read any of the post-ROTJ novels,
that is precisely what happens). But why worry about that? He's on a
roll, because once he has decided that the goal of the Rebels is to
put Leia on the throne as the new dictator, then he can continue with
his unreasoning jihad against Star Wars.

Did anyone in the entire world
besides David Brin think that the Rebels intended to install Luke or
Leia as a new dictator after deposing Palpatine? It is
frankly mind-boggling that he would come to this conclusion after
watching the original Star Wars trilogy, and even more
mind-boggling that he would maintain this delusion after seeing TPM,
in which the democratic government of the Old Republic was very
thoroughly portrayed.

In teaching us how to distinguish good from
evil, Lucas prescribes judging by looks: Villains wear Nazi helmets.
They hiss and leer, or have red-glowing eyes, like in a Ralph Bakshi
cartoon. On the other hand, "Star Trek" tales often warn
against judging a book by its cover -- a message you'll also find in
the films of Steven Spielberg, whose spunky everyman characters
delight in reversing expectations and asking irksome questions.

Perhaps he failed to notice that one of the principal heroes of
the Star Wars trilogy was a snarling, seven foot tall wildebeast. In
fact, all of the truly bizarre-looking aliens were on the Rebel side.
In contrast, the Empire was very conformist, restricting itself
almost completely to humans (sort of like the Federation Starfleet,
in Star Trek). But again, he has a laundry list of criticisms about
Star Wars, and he has to step through them one by one, even if there
is no evidence in the films to support his claims. As for Star Trek
warning against judging a book by its cover, I would say that this
was true for TOS (coincidentally, the only Star Trek series which I
like without reservation). But in the era of TNG, different races
have uniform characteristics- you can judge a Klingon by his
cover (he will be violent and ill-tempered). You can judge a
Romulan by his cover (he will be duplicitous and deceitful). You can
judge a Ferengi by his cover (he will be greedy and manipulative). He
is completely ignoring the actual contents of Star Wars and Star
Trek, in favour of some kind of modified version of Star Wars and
Star Trek that he apparently carries around in his head.
Unfortunately for him, the rest of us can't see that version of Star
Wars and Star Trek- we can only see the version on the movie screens
and television sets of the world. That version is substantially
different from the version he describes.

Above all, "Star Trek" generally
depicts heroes who are only about 10 times as brilliant, noble and
heroic as a normal person, prevailing through cooperation and wit,
rather than because of some inherited godlike transcendent greatness.
Characters who do achieve godlike powers are subjected to ruthless
scrutiny. In other words, "Trek" is a prototypically
American dream, entranced by notions of human improvement and a
progress that lifts all. Gene Roddenberry's vision loves heroes, but
it breaks away from the elitist tradition of princes and wizards who
rule by divine or mystical right. By contrast, these are the only
heroes in the "Star Wars" universe.

Really! The "only heroes in the Star Wars universe" are
demigods, in the form of Jedi Knights? How
could David Brin have possibly watched the entire classic Star Wars
trilogy without noticing such pivotal characters as Han Solo, Wedge
Antilles, and Lando Calrissian? Did he notice that without
Han Solo's change of heart, Luke Skywalker would have died a flaming
death at the hands of his father, and the Rebellion would have been
crushed? Did he notice that Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian
destroyed the second Death Star? Was he sleeping when Lando
Calrissian saved the day for Leia (and in the end analysis, the
entire Rebellion) when he decided to defy Vader and the Empire by
helping Leia and Chewbacca escape, to save Luke? Was he suffering
from temporary blindness when Sabé saved the day by
distracting the Neimoidian Viceroy long enough for Queen Amidala to
seize control of the throneroom? Did he notice that the Viceroy was
the most critical target of the entire operation, yet no Jedi or
Force child prodigies took part in his capture? Maybe he's just so
completely committed to his jihad against Star Wars that he doesn't
feel he needs to observe trivialities like the truth.

As for Star Trek embodying "the American Dream", there
are people in this world who live outside America. In fact, 95% of
the people in this world live outside America, and contrary to
popular American belief, we are not necessarily dying to
emigrate. Star Wars is designed to have a universal appeal, while
Star Trek is designed to promote West Coast American left-wing
liberal socialist viewpoints to the world. Many see the universality
of Star Wars as a strength- David Brin sees it as a weakness. But
then again, he had previously stated his bizarre belief that American
jingoism is a mandatory component of all "genuine" science
fiction, so I suppose we shouldn't expect any better. For what it's
worth, even if you do subscribe to his jingoist viewpoint, you
should probably be aware that in several of its primary aspects, Star
Trek is highly unAmerican:

Socialism
and Freedom: There are no independent corporations in
Star Trek. They have all been nationalized, like some great
futuristic Marxist-Leninist Utopia. No one can become wealthy in
Star Trek- everyone has the same standard of living. This is
socialism, not capitalism, and the hard reality is that capitalism
is an inevitable side-effect of personal freedom. Conversely,
socialism requires heavy government control and limited
personal freedom.

The
American Dream: Get real, Dave: the American Dream isn't
anything as lofty as "bettering ourselves and humanity",
as Picard put it. No, the real American Dream (the one
gleaming in the hearts of hard-working immigrants as they struggle
to climb the ladder of success) is about one thing: getting rich.
Don't recoil at this politically incorrect notion- we all know it's
true. But there is nothing wrong with this- the pursuit of
wealth and luxury has driven most of the technological advancement
of the past half-century. It isn't a bad thing unless people become
so obsessed with it that they hurt other people. But if we remove
the possibility of becoming rich, then we kill the American Dream.

Freedom of choice: In
Star Wars, there are numerous manufacturers of products-
corporations compete with one another to produce blaster rifles,
starships, and all manner of goods. In ANH, Luke Skywalker laments
the poor demand for his landspeeder ever since a superior competing
model came out. But in Star Trek? To paraphrase Henry Ford, you can
have any colour you want, so long as it's beige. There is no
competition for government contracts- no choices offered to
consumers. If they want choice, they had better leave the Federation
entirely, and shop at Ferenginar.

He then goes on to attack George Lucas personally:

Lucas defends his elitist view, telling the
New York Times, "That's sort of why I say a benevolent despot is
the ideal ruler. He can actually get things done. The idea that power
corrupts is very true and it's a big human who can get past that."

If David Brin would accuse George Lucas of elitism and despotism
for making an off-handed pie in the sky comment about how a
benevolent despot would be the ideal ruler, then how would he react
to the following quote? "Remember, democracy never lasts
long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a
democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Do you know who
said that? John Adams, second president of the United States and one
of the American Founding Fathers. Surely John Adams could not
be seriously accused of anti-democratic views, yet there it is! So
what's wrong?

The answer is simple. Criticism is healthy. Warning about
potential pitfalls and dangers is healthy. In fact, both are
absolutely necessary for a democracy to function properly.
John Adams understood this, but David Brin apparently does not. He
treats democracy as an object of mindless advocacy rather than a
political model with strengths and weaknesses. As heretical as
it may sound, democracy is not perfect; it needs constant
work, public awareness, and principled leaders in order to work. It
may be better than some of the known alternatives, but that doesn't
mean that it's beyond criticism or that people shouldn't be allowed
to talk about flaws in its operation. Nothing should ever be
treated as beyond criticism, unless you've decided to take the
attitude that political systems should be treated as quasi-religious
dogma.

The perfection and immunity from criticism of American-style
democracy is a theme that David Brin harps on throughout the rest of
his article. He repeatedly explains that George Lucas' political
viewpoints are not just different- they are wrong, and
dangerous, and should be boycotted (whatever happened to a
little American concept called "freedom of expression", Mr.
Brin?). Frankly, I see nothing wrong with George Lucas' statement. A
benevolent despot would be an ideal ruler. The only problem is
that there is no such thing as a benevolent despot- the concept is
wishful thinking.

David Brin is clearly no better at understanding quotes than he is
at understanding movies. George Lucas says that a benevolent despot
would be an ideal ruler, but that isn't what David Brin hears; in
Brin's mind, he hears George making a blanket statement that
dictatorships are an ideal form of government. George is making a
pie-in-the-sky, "wouldn't it be nice" kind of statement,
and Brin interprets it as "let's scrap democracy and start a
dictatorship".

I'm starting to wonder if one of George's kids made fun of one of
Brin's kids, for him to be carrying around so much hostility that he
would misrepresent both the words and movies of George Lucas in his
defamatory attack. Some have E-mailed to suggest that Mr. Brin is
simply jealous of George Lucas' enormous financial success with the
Star Wars series, and that he feels George's talent didn't merit his
rewards. If that's the case, then he simply needs to grow up. George
knew what the public wanted, while the self-professed "populist"
David Brin's popularity is still confined to a very small segment of
the population. All of which leads me to wonder: who's the real
populist, Mr. Brin?

Think he's gone overboard yet? He's not quite done.

Thus few protest the apotheosis of Darth
Vader -- nee Anakin Skywalker -- in "Return of the Jedi."

To put it in perspective, let's imagine that the United
States and its allies managed to capture Adolf Hitler at the end of
the Second World War, putting him on trial for war crimes. The
prosecution spends months listing all the horrors done at his behest.
Then it is the turn of Hitler's defense attorney, who rises and
utters just one sentence:

"But, your honors ... Adolf
did save the life of his own son!"

Gasp! The prosecutors
blanch in chagrin. "We didn't know that! Of course all charges
should be dismissed at once!"

The allies then throw a
big parade for Hitler, down the avenues of Nuremberg.

It may
sound silly, but that's exactly the lesson taught by "Return of
the Jedi," wherein Darth Vader is forgiven all his sins, because
he saved the life of his own son.

Only a lunatic or a blind, deaf mute would watch Return of the
Jedi and interpret it thusly. Who ever said that Vader was forgiven
for his sins and made a hero of the New Republic? Did we see anyone
besides Luke standing at Vader's lonely funeral pyre? I didn't. You
didn't. Apparently, David Brin did. Did we see anyone besides Luke
showing any sympathy whatsoever toward Vader? I didn't. You didn't.
Apparently, David Brin did. Let's get the facts straight: Vader's own
son seemed to forgive him, but no one else did.

As for Vader's status as a Hitler-like monster, David Brin
apparently missed the following facts:

Vader was not personally
responsible for Alderaan. The Death Star was commanded by Grand Moff
Tarkin, not Darth Vader. Vader had no more personal responsibility
for Alderaan than did any of the other million-plus Imperial
soldiers aboard the Death Star. He neither gave the order or pulled
the trigger.

Vader was not the ruler of the
Empire. Emperor Palpatine was the ruler of the Empire, and
"executive responsibility" falls upon him, not Vader. BTW,
Mr. Brin, if you rewatch ROTJ, you might notice that Vader killed
the Emperor.

The opening crawl of ANH states quite clearly that the galaxy
is in a state of "CIVIL WAR". The destruction of a
helpless civilian target in time of war is arguably heinous, but to
be brutally blunt, it's been done before, by Americans. In fact,
America is the only nation on Earth that has ever used nuclear
weapons against civilians, not once, but twice! But a man
like Brin, who's apparently given to mindless American jingoism, is
not likely to notice the irony in an American painting the use of
weapons of mass destruction in wartime as an act of unfettered evil.

Vader killed many people, including many of his own officers as
well as his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obviously, he's not Gandhi. But
comparing him to Hitler is excessive. Hitler is best compared to the
Emperor, not Vader. Does Brin even recognize the distinction between
the Emperor and Vader? They were two separate people- they cannot be
treated as one person.

A final note on this subject: Vader was not forgiven for his sins-
he died for his sins, but in a nod to the Christian concept of
redemption through acceptance of Christ (which I've never personally
understood but which is very popular in America), Vader achieves
redemption through acceptance of his own good side. In any case,
regardless of whether you believe in it, spiritual redemption is not
equivalent to a legal pardon- you can be spiritually redeemed but
still be sentenced to death by the corporeal government that collects
your taxes. Does David Brin think that Vader should have been shown
suffering in Hell after his death? He paid the price for his crimes,
by sacrificing his own life to topple the despot that he helped rise
to power. What's the problem?

But wait- is Mr. "I think that all science fiction should be
mandated to promote my political ideas" done yet? Nope- he
hasn't attacked Yoda yet. But give him time ...

You already know what I think of what came
next. But worshipping Darth Vader only scratches the surface. The
biggest moral flaw in the "Star Wars" universe is one point
that Lucas stresses over and over again, through the voice of his
all-wise guru character, Yoda.

Let's see if I get this right.
Fear makes you angry and anger makes you evil, right?

Wrong. If he watched TPM (or even the old classic trilogy) he
would see that hate makes you evil. Yoda's exact words are:
"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering!" Vader also mentions
hatred to Luke, in ROTJ. No one in his right mind would seriously
argue against the notion that hatred is inherently evil. Small
wonder then, that Mr. David Brin chose to "forget" that
Yoda mentioned hate, because a good memory would decapitate his
crusade against the things he thinks George Lucas is saying in
his films. Just like he conveniently "forgot" that the Jedi
Knights are civil servants rather than rulers, or that non-Jedi
heroes like Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian
etc. existed. With a memory like that, it's a wonder that he
remembers to pee before he goes to bed at night.

But then, in "Return of the Jedi,"
Lucas takes this basic wisdom and perverts it, saying -- "If you
get angry -- even at injustice and murder -- it will automatically
and immediately transform you into an unalloyedly evil person!

No, this isn't what Lucas is saying at all. By now, I am getting
tired of David Brin's lies. They aren't misconceptions or weak
arguments- they are outright lies. Are you getting tired of
them too? He is now saying that the instant you feel anger, you
become "an unalloyedly evil person" according to ROTJ.
Funny thing though- Luke became angry in Return of the Jedi, nearly
striking down his father, but he didn't become "unalloyedly
evil". In TPM, Obi-Wan Kenobi is clearly seething with anger
when he attacks Darth Maul- he didn't become "unalloyedly evil."
Again, I must ask- did he watch the same films that we did?

"Star Wars" belongs to our dark
past. A long, tyrannical epoch of fear, illogic, despotism and
demagoguery that our ancestors struggled desperately to overcome, and
that we are at last starting to emerge from, aided by the scientific
and egalitarian spirit that Lucas openly despises. A spirit we must
encourage in our children, if they are to have any chance at all.

Now he's just getting back on his high horse about the
pro-despotism messages that he thinks he sees in Star Wars.
More harping on a lie which hatched from his incredible claim that
the Jedi Knights are rulers. They are not. The only Force user
who became a galactic ruler was the Emperor, and I'll let everyone in
on a little secret that seems to have eluded the Great Science
Fiction Writer David Brin: The Emperor was one of the bad guys.
The first time I showed Star Wars to my little three year old son, he
instinctively understood that the Empire was being obviously
portrayed as the bad guys. I find it amazing
that my three year old son could grasp something that seems to be
beyond the comprehension of an adult science fiction writer like
David Brin.

Star Wars does not present Emperor Palpatine, or his system
of government, in a good light! It does not present his Empire
as a superior alternative to democracy! Doesn't everyone realize this
without having to see it spelled out in front of them? To be fair, I
think that everyone does realize this. Everyone except for
David Brin.

At this point, I have grown seriously fatigued with Brin's
repetitive, ignorant, and deceptive arguments. Thankfully, he's
almost done. But of course, someone who has this much preachiness in
them would never be able to end an article without an outstanding
example of pomposity. Let's see if David Brin can resist:

I don't expect to win this argument any time
soon. As Joseph Campbell rightly pointed out, the ways of our
ancestors tug at the soul with a resonance many find romantically
appealing, even irresistible. Some cannot put the fairy tale down and
move on to more mature fare. Not yet at least. Ah well.

But
over the long haul, history is on my side. Because the course of
human destiny won't be defined in the past. It will be decided in our
future.

That's my bailiwick, though it truly belongs to all of
you. To all of us.

The future is where our posterity will
thrive.

I guess not. He seems to think that "history
is on my side." Is it really? The Roman Empire
endured for 1300 years. The Chinese dynasties endured for thousands
of years. The world's most venerable democracy is only a couple of
hundred years old- history's verdict isn't in yet. And even if we
ignore the entire democracy vs despot issue (which has nothing to do
with the pro-democracy Star Wars universe anyway), history certainly
is not kind to those who deceive in order to promote their views- an
ignominious group to which David Brin clearly belongs. Does he have
anything else to say? How about "our
future. That's my bailiwick, though it truly belongs to all of you.
To all of us." Pretty good Bill Clinton-style
2-second sound-bite, Dave! Have you got any more nuggets of
fortune-cookie wisdom to dispense from your cache of self-important
one-liners? Hmmm, let's see how he ends his article: "The future
is where our posterity will thrive." Ahh, an excellent
combination of self-aggrandizement and pomposity. If those things
were valued, then David Brin would be a rich man indeed.